Brothers and Sisters,
Today the Governor gave an update in which he said he plans on extending the current Stay-at-Home order til May 1st. Click here to watch the video in it's entirety. Below is an excerpt from todays briefing.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Governor Holcomb announced Indiana’s stay-at-home order, which was set expire on April 20 at 11:59 p.m., will be extended to May 1 with an official announcement coming Monday.
Holcomb said, “There is a lot of work that needs to be done between now and May 1st. This is going to to allow us to make sure that we’re all on the same page as a state.”
During the state’s daily COVID-19 virtual press conference, the governor said the extension will be part of the next executive order on Monday, April 20. Holcomb said Indiana will continue to work in two-week increments and is making progress because of the current containment policies.
“I know it makes all of us anxious and stir crazy at times and get cabin fever, it’s very understandable,” Holcomb said. “But we’re making progress because of it and we don’t want to prematurely change what we’re doing just to hope for a different result. It is working.”
Holcomb said the state is planning on a safe re-open of different sectors of our economy, and has been asking Indiana’s private sector to submit input by Wednesday, April 22.
“We’ve reached out to car manufacturers, our realtors, our retailers, our restaurants, from small businesses to the largest businesses we have in the state of Indiana, to legislators, to mayors to all the local officials, because, again, we’re in this together soliciting their ideas,” said Holcomb.
Friday’s report from the Indiana State Department of Health showed the state has more than 500 deaths from COVID-19. There are 10,154 total positive cases and more than 54,000 people have been tested statewide.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box also announced the release of more information on statewide hospitalizations, including county-by-county information.
Dr. Ram Yeleti, Chief Physician Executive at Community Health Network, joined the teleconference and discussed being COVID-19 positive, his recovery and the caring of his wife who also contracted the virus.
On Thursday, when asked when he thought the state’s economy would be ready to reopen, Holcomb had stated, “we are thinking early May.”
He said officials are “looking at the numbers…we want to see these numbers hold.”
The reopening is expected to be a gradual process and won’t start until officials are confident the pandemic is starting to wane. Officials said their main concern is ensuring employees are safe.
